Director of Senior School Ms. Bland to Retire in June
At the Middle/Senior School Assembly Monday, Mr. Liggett shared the news that CDS Director of Senior School, Ms. Celia Bland, will be retiring at the end of this year.
Celia joined CDS in 1998 as a teacher in the Junior School and has since taught within all three divisions. A passionate promoter of reading as a means to understanding the world, she has taught English and Drama in the Middle and Senior Schools, served as Head of English, and served as Director of Middle School and most recently Director of Senior School, a position she has held for nearly 10 years. Along the way, she has worked on countless drama productions and seamlessly and expeditiously led the Middle and Senior School extracurricular programs to new heights.
In 2014, Celia spearheaded efforts to create CDS’s Portrait of a Graduate as a means of empowering students to develop positive character traits; something that has truly defined her teaching career, from the inner-city neighborhoods of London where she first started her career, to her tenures in our Junior, Middle and Senior Schools here at CDS. Students know her as empathetic, yet firm. The many handwritten, heartfelt notes Celia has sent to students are a testament to just how much she cares.
Her CDS connections reach well beyond faculty, students and staff to decades of CDS alumni whom she knows not only as a teacher, but as the mother of two CDS Lifers, runs deep. A dedicated partner and a proud mother of two CDS alumni, Siena and Simone, whom she loves deeply.
Throughout her career at CDS, Celia has made time to effect social change whether that’s by introducing relevant, socially conscious novels into our English curricula, developing social justice initiatives in the Middle and Senior Schools, or, most recently initiating CDS’s partnership with King for Refugees.
While this news is extremely bittersweet, we are excited for what her next chapter will bring as there are limitless places to travel, volunteering opportunities to pursue, and captivating books to read.
Land Acknowledgment
The Country Day School wishes to recognize and acknowledge the land on which the school operates. Our nearest Indigenous Nations are now the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Chippewas of Georgina Island. The Dish with One Spoon Wampum covenant is often cited as an example of the shared responsibility for caring for these lands among the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples who would call these their traditional territories. CDS respects the relationship with these lands and recognizes that our connection to this land can be strengthened by our continued relationship with all First Nations, by acknowledging our shared responsibility to respect and care for the land and waters for future generations.
School Information
13415 Dufferin Street King, Ontario L7B 1K5
(905) 833-1220
communications@cds.on.ca
admissions@cds.on.ca
Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.
(905) 833-1220
communications@cds.on.ca
admissions@cds.on.ca
Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.
